Money for nothin’ and your Facebook for free

The title might be some poor paraphrasing of the Dire Straits song but it immediately springs to mind each time I read or hear of people who are really pissed off with Facebook. Somewhere along the line we have individually claimed ownership and rights in this mammoth social media platform.

It is as if we have been actively involved in the development of the technology and infrastructure and much of the billions of dollars of investment have come out of our own pockets. We forget that at the end of the day all we are bringing to the party is our virtual footprint and providing the juggernaut the right to peddle the wares of their paying customers to us. In return we get to play on the platform but within their rules.

In recent times people have turned to international courts to force Facebook to do things in a different way. It is kind of like me taking offence at the way you plan and run your annual family holiday and I get a court to force you to do it differently. That sounds absolutely ridiculous and it is, but that is the reality when it comes to Facebook.

We are not forced to join and we are free to leave at any time. The only requirement for joining and being allowed to play is to agree to their terms and conditions. Have you studied these lengthy contractual terms forged over the years by the most expensive legal minds? Of course not because that does not matter if things do not happen the way we want them then the problem must lie with Facebook.
For what we pay and for what we get it is an incredible opportunity to connect, to network and to market yourself as and when required. Facebook has made the world a global village and families can stay in touch. They are not perfect, but for what we pay we simply have no room or right to complain.

More often than not the problems arise between people, the users of the platform, not the platform itself. Let’s get over ourselves and imagine all the possibilities of what Facebook can do. Just as death is a certainty, so will Facebook be updating their layout, how they operate and their rules. And we will all just have to live with it, because that is the way the cookie crumbles…

A systems engineering background together with a creative flair for design, a solid understanding of business principles and an unquenchable desire to explore new online technologies. A career that has already spanned 36+ years and still going strong.